By Staff
NILES - Cass County, at 3.6 percent for August, boasted the seventh-lowest unemployment rate in Michigan.
Berrien and Van Buren counties ranked 48th and 50th with 6.4 percent jobless rates, according to figures released Friday by the Michigan Department of Labor and Growth.
Oscoda County had the highest unemployment rate, 11.1 percent.
Six counties lower than Cass were Mackinac (1.5), Cheboygan (2.7), Leelanau (3.1), Washtenaw (3.1), Livingston (3.4) and Isabella (3.5).
Bruce Weaver, acting director of the department's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, announced that August seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates decreased in all 12 of Michigan's major labor market areas. Employment and labor force levels declined in the majority of regions over the month.
Employment increased in four areas.
Relatively strong employment gains were recorded in Benton Harbor, Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Employment in Kalamazoo-Battle Creek edged upward over the month.
Increase in total payroll employment was limited to four metropolitan areas in August: Benton Harbor, Ann Arbor, Detroit and Grand Rapids.